TABS

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Book Review - Beyond the Iron

In the interest of full disclosure, I was asked to write one of the intros for the new book by Wayne Kurtz called Beyond The Iron.However, I agreed to write that intro for his book because I felt it was a fascinating read with wonderful insight into a world few will ever tread.

For the most part, Wayne's book is not for everyone. That may seem like not the best thing to say about a book I am most assuredly giving a positive review to. However, I stand by the statement. You see, Beyond the Iron is a book for those few athletes out there interested in learning about and training for Ultra-Distance Triathlons. If you are curious what an Ultra-distance triathlon is, more or less it is any triathlon longer than an Ironman. Yep, longer. (Read a little more about those types of races here.) Beyond the Iron introduces the reader to those races, describes the idea and history behind them, as well as including a 20-week training plan to prepare a triathlete for a double iron event. Within the book there are a great deal of ideas on strength training, properly fueling oneself for these extraordinarily long events, how to set goals, and finally, preparing oneself mentally to tackle these seemingly impossible races.

Wayne himself is a numerous finisher of all differing varieties of Ultra-Distance Triathlons and if there is any event where the one telling you how to compete must have actually been in the competition to describe what is needed to take on one of these mammoth endeavors, it is an Ultra-Distance Triathlon.

As with any training book, it can be a little dry at times, simply because a 20 week training plan is a great deal of info about working out that is fun to complete but a little stale to read. Nevertheless, this is a good read filled with invaluable insight. Check out Beyond the Iron if you are looking to get into pushing yourself to the extreme.